Over a third of Ireland’s older LGBT people fear rejection in society

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No surprise there then. Like a lot of society the older people in the LGBTIQ community are considered to have little or no value and very little if any visibility . So being fearful of the future is understandable. I’m 53yo, and live in Northern Ireland. I have a 26yo son and was in a relationship with his mum for 6 years…trying to live a ‘normal’ life. I didn’t ‘come out’ until I was 28yo and and though I have a long term relationship I’m still fearful of the future.

I hear you, Shane. I’m 49 y.o., live in the U.S.A. and I’ve been reading the writing on the wall for several years now. My last relationship ended over 15 years ago, and I came completely out of the closet at 16. Now I look at what’s ahead for myself and others, and I don’t care for what I see.
Even in our “youth and beauty” obsessed culture, I still don’t understand the invisibility foisted upon the older LGBT’s (of which I am proudly a member). I was raised by my grandparents, and have a different perspective on older people – part of my “problem”, I suppose. Maybe the one consolation we have is that, as old farts, we can be as crazy, bitchy, and spout off with our unvarnished opinions whenever we like – after all, with our mileage and battle scars, we’ve earned it! If it works for Betty White, it works for me.

Culture in general is youth obsessed – older lgbts have the same problem plus homo/transphobia. I personally think that maintaining friendships and social networks is essentially the only remedy for the resulting isolation and marginalisation.
Specifically re. this study, it is hard to conclude much from it because it is so small, but it is important to realise that it is actually positive – each question apparently produced a minority of negative responses.

I agree, though you could just as easily say that culture in general is money-obsessed or, more damagingly, is couple-obsessed – the way people are at best considered odd, and at worst pitied, for being single is arguably more destructive than the focus on youth IMO. It’s also worth noting that many non-gay elderly people also feel isolated and marginalised (though of course it’s infinitely worse if you feel you’re despised on sexual grounds as well).